The return of The One
by Arasinyah
Summary: All Caleb Danvers ever wanted was to get through high school without any drama, with a girlfriend and great grades and hopefully end up at Harvard university. At zero out of four he was doing pretty bad and then...Along came Noelle. Caleb /OC
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I'm only publishing this because I needed to get this out of my mind but feel free to leave a review.**

* * *

Caleb sighed. Another day, another illegal party in the woods. As usual Reid was talking to some scantily clad girl while Tyler acted as his wingman, Kate and Pogue were being nauseatingly cute and he was all alone desperately trying to avoid Kira. She had grown much worse since Sarah had broken up with him, following him around incessantly, making innuendo that even shocked Reid, it made him feel felt quite bad for Aaron. It was never fun being with someone who doesn't actually want you.

When that thought crossed his mind he turned back to Sarah and when their eyes met they shared a little smile and she nodded before going back to her date. He almost wished it was an acrimonious breakup so he could hate her and fully move on. But he couldn't really blame Sarah for getting completely freaked out when Pogue's ascension came along and she found that she was just not ready to deal with it or have it become a part of her life. She didn't want to grow up to one day turn into his mother, alone, alcoholic and bitter. He understood that better than anyone, after all how many years had he spent convincing himself that he was not going to turn into his father.

"You okay man?" Pogue said suddenly appearing out of nowhere and laughing when he saw Caleb flinch in surprise. He'd been on edge ever since thye realised Chase's body wasn't found in the ruins and while it did worry them all, watching Caleb react like a bunny on steroids was ridiculously amusing for them. Caleb disagreed.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Saw you watching Sarah again."

The 'again' tacked on at the end of the sentence scared Caleb, was he really that bad?

"Check out the new fish in the pond." Reid also appeared out of nowhere coming up behind Caleb and Pogue and throwing an arm over each of their shoulders and directed them to the new students.

"There have been a lot of transfer students this year." Tyler noted noticing that at least half the faces in the crowd were not there in the beginning of the academic year most of them female much to Reid's joy.

"I just hope they aren't like that Mariah-Sue." Reid shivered as he thought of the weird obsessive girl who stared at him in a way that made Caleb glad his only stalker was Kira.

The new students walked closer to the fire and they could finally see their faces. It was a boy and a girl, the male of the duo a tall, lanky redhead with his long hair tied into a pony at the base of his head with freckles galore, a bumpy nose and golden rimmed glasses. He attracted no attention from the girls who were too busy staring at the Sons and was engrossed in conversation with the girl who also didn't attract any attention. She was far too covered up for that, a sweater and jeans instead of the belly baring flimsy blouses that other girls wore. But beside that she seemed pretty in a tiny fairy-like way. Her dark hair and black glasses made for a perfect match to the boy next to her.

They were lost in their conversation completely unaware of the scrutiny of the four Sons.

"She's hot." Reid's proclamation was met with incredulous stares.

"This is about your librarian fantasy right?" Tyler guessed correctly and the other two smirked. Reid's thing for the assistant librarian was no secret.

"Come on let's go talk to her." The blonde insisted and one by one the Sons sighed before following him if only to make sure he didn't harass the girl.

"Hi I'm Reid." He said with a stellar smile that the four hadn't seen since he ate an entire two tier birthday cake at the age of twelve.

The girl grinned right back and this close he could see that she had freckles just like the boy along with the same stormy grey-green eyes. She stuck out her arm for a handshake and Reid tugged it up to his face and kissed the back of her hand instead.

"Bonjour mademoiselle."

At the sound of those words her smile grew and Caleb awaited the inevitable swoon only to hear her suddenly start chattering away in French.

"I'm sorry what?" Reid said utterly confused and her face fell.

"Screw it, I thought you spoke French instead you're just schmoozing up to me." The other three boys smothered a laugh while Reid spluttered only to regain his footing quickly.

"Well I couldn't help myself, you're the most beautiful person I've ever seen." He pulled her closer.

The girl sighed breathily and put one hand onto Reid's cheek. "I know." She said and pulled away while pushing Reid away simultaneously.

Caleb liked her.

"Allow me to introduce myself," Tyler said stepping up and extending his hand. "I'm Tyler Simms."

"Noelle Radcliffe."

For a split second Caleb felt the earth under him move.

"Wait, Noelle Radcliffe? You lived here before but then you moved-"

"When I was ten, thank you for remembering, Caleb Danvers."

"You remember me?"

"I punched a dude in the face for you and was not allowed to have any sugar for an entire two weeks, of course I remember you. A girl never forgets her first punch." She reminisced and he felt the wind knock out of his sails.

He had the biggest crush on her all through elementary school starting from the moment she'd punched a guy for making fun of him for having no Dad back in kindergarten. He'd been the runt of the group back then not really having grown into his body until a bit after he got his powers at the age of thirteen.

And there his childhood crush was, as always, spazzy and odd and radiating utter contentment like she always did. Before he could say anything or even close his mouth, the DJ announced the arrival of the cops and they scattered to the wind.

"We should hang out." He said to the empty space in front of him his mind not really registering the fact that she wasn't there and it was only when Reid pulled him by his coat that he realised they had to leave.

He was not off to a good start.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:Well hell I didn't expect all those reviews or such a response, nonetheless, many thanks to you all. Still if you're expecting a good ole romance or some 'I'm so cool I have my own background music'-isms from the characters I'd stop reading because this is meant to be more of a slightly parodist thing than anything else.**

* * *

As the pretty Mustang convertible pulled up into the parking lot, the driver of it cracked his knuckles and ran a hand through his hair tiredly. Early morning Swim Practice was the worst, Caleb thought to himself as he slammed the door of the car in no mood to be awake, let alone be coherent.

He made his way to the school gate sleepily only to be forced awake when a bicycle zoomed past him incredibly close and he was jolted out of his haze. Within seconds the incredibly energetic bicyclist had dismounted and attached the two-wheeler to the bike rack and they both reached the gates at the same time.

"Heya Caleb!" Noelle grinned up at him as she took the helmet off and he smiled back at her suddenly wide awake.

"What are you doing here so early?"

"I woke up early so I figured I could just come early to school and figure out which room is where so I won't get lost later." Caleb was disappointed at her forethought, he'd been hoping he could help her out with that. "What about you, why are you here so early?"

"Swim practice."

"Oooh you still swim?"

"I'm on the team, Freestyle."

"Still a fish I see."

"And you?"

"I'm still a stone. I don't swim, I drown."

"Well maybe I could teach you."

"Greater men and women have tried."

"Ouch." He clutched a hand to his heart in mock pain.

"I don't know what it is, I can dive and hold my breath underwater for five minutes but I can't swim without floaties." She flapped her arm like wings.

"Floaties."

"Yep."

He opened his mouth to say something and realised he actually had no idea how to react to that.

"So what time does your swim practice begin?"

"Five." He sighed and she looked at the watch on her wrist with a frown.

"I suggest you hurry because it is currently 4:58."

He swore under his breath and with a rushed goodbye as she waved him off casually he ran down the corridor as fast as he could. He doubled back just for a second and enveloped her in a hug.

She laughed and ruffled his hair. "Yeah yeah I missed you too, now go be a fishy."

He really had missed her.

* * *

Kira took her stalking quite seriously. It was time consuming and frankly, ever since her parents had taken away her credit cards, it was also a lot more difficult to bribe the girls in Caleb's classes to report back to her with expensive presents. But it was worth it, _he_ was worth it.

So when Caleb got out of the car she was there watching, when the bicycle almost ran him over, she was there fuming, when the bicyclist turned out to be the new girl and Caleb _just hugged her like that_, she was there albeit shocked into silence.

This was worse than Sarah, at least with that perky blonde it was obvious that she was chasing the boy but with the new girl it was the other way round. Caleb was chasing her and that was rare. In all their time in Ipswich she'd only seen it happen once before and that was back when they were in middle school.

Still, it was best to keep your friends close and enemies closer. Disregarding the pang when she realised she had no friends, she slipped out of the shadows of the crowded hallway where she'd been hiding and went up to the new girl brightly.

"Hi, I'm Kira!"

"I'm Noelle."

"You must be new, I haven't really seen you around."

"Yeah but how did you know anyway? I mean there are around three hundred students in the school but everyone seems to automatically know that I'm new. So freaky." Noelle fake shivered and shot her a smile. It was like stealing candy from a baby, Kira thought.

"Well it's a small town and most of us grew up together."

"Really? I don't remember seeing you here seven years ago though."

"Oh you lived here before."

"Yeah but I moved when I was ten."

"Oh, well I was sent here to the boarding school when I was eleven, so that's probably why you never saw me." When her parents had decided she was far too strung up for them to handle she'd been sent to New England. Like some dog that had been sent to the 'farm'. You'd think six years would have dulled the pain but it was still there, crushing her from the inside out. Kira shook the thought off and focused on the new girl again.

"I saw you talking to the Sons at the party in the Dells."

"The Sons?"

"The Sons of Ipswich of course, Caleb, Pogue, Reid and Tyler, you lived here didn't you know them?"

"Yeah but I just referred to them as the Idiots. Or the Four Stooges. The Wimps. The Girly Boys."With each title Noelle gave them the twitch in Kira's eyes grew more pronounced until Noelle stumbled over the last word and looked at her with wide eyes "Ooh I didn't mean to offend you!"

New girl was also very confusing.

"Why would I be offended?"

"Umm nothing," Noelle tittered, "I mean it's perfectly all right for boys to be girly, we live in a free world after all. Your boyfriend is perfectly fine the way he is, Aaron isn't girly at all."

She was protesting too much. Clearly new girl thought Aaron was a girly boy. Kira sighed. There was nothing she could say to deny it, Aaron Abbott did tend to take his hair a bit too seriously and Kira wasn't so completely oblivious that she didn't notice the homoerotic undertones to the interactions he had with Reid. A psychologist might even say her obsession with Caleb was her mind's attempt to distract her from the part of her waiting for Aaron to drop her any second for Garwin.

"So you don't stay at the dorms?"

"No I've gotten very much used to having my own space. My brother does though, he doesn't like waking up in the morning to travel and we live a bit far away from school."

"Your brother?"

"Yup, my brother Nathan. You'll see him later, he's the hippy with the long red hair who's constantly yawning. He calls it EDS, I call it lazy."

New girl didn't even need to be stalked, she was just pouring forth the information. At this rate Kira would have an address and entire life history before school even started. Who knew, maybe new girl would invite her to her house, she certainly seemed nice and gullible enough.

* * *

"She's with Kira." Caleb said and the boys turned to look at where Kira was leading Noelle around arms hooked at the elbows.

"We noticed." Pogue said drily as Kate sidled up next to him and reached up for a kiss.

"What the hell is she doing with Kira?!"

"What's your crush doing with your stalker? That's a question for the Gods Caleb." Pogue replied and Kate turned to Caleb with a horribly excited look on her face.

"You have a crush on someone?!"

"Not just anyone, he has a crush on Noelle Radcliffe, she was his best friend ever since she punched a guy for making fun of Caleb back in Kindergarten all the way until she moved when she was ten and was never heard from again. Now she's back and Caleb has gone back to being a trainwreck, crushing ass backwards on his childhood friend." Reid narrated dramatically and was soon joined by Tyler. Inwardly Kate marvelled at Reid's ability to get so many girls to fall head over heels for him while Tyler tagged along as his Siamese twin, joint at the hip. That brought images to mind that she didn't particularly care for (although the blush on her face said otherwise) and she cleared her throat before turning back to Caleb, still huddled up in the crook of Pogue's shoulder.

"It's great that you like someone else now you can get over Sarah!" She didn't mean to complain but she was getting really tired of both Sarah and Caleb constantly asking her for information on how the other was doing. Sure she loved to gossip but it had gotten to a point where she'd begun wondering if she should have to keep them updated on each other's bowel movements considering how close an eye they kept on one another.

"She's with Kira." Caleb said again, blankly staring at where the two were still talking. At some point Noelle caught his eye and winked at him playfully (but not flirtatiously as Kate noted) and as if pulled by a string he began to make his way over to her.

Kate whistled and Pogue pulled her even closer with a laugh."He's got it bad."

* * *

Caleb approached her only to hear the latter half of their conversation

"... thinking of joining the Drama club, Math club, Environmental club and Chess club? Wow, aren't you afraid of being bullied?" Kira asked mockingly but Noelle didn't seem to notice.

"Not really, I tend to beat up my bullies so they stop quite quickly. And if that doesn't work then there are always more mysterious ways in which I can work."

"Really?"

The grin now spreading on Noelle's face was entirely sinister. He'd never seen anyone show so many of their teeth in a single smile before. She tilted her head to the side like a bird, the innocence of that gesture entirely at odds with her smile. "Wouldn't you like to know?"

It seemed to have an effect on Kira as she suddenly began stuttering and made a vague excuse and left. Noelle would have to teach him how to do that, Caleb decided as he watched his stalker practically run away from him.

"That should take care of her." She sounded amused and Caleb turned to her so fast he gave himself whiplash.

"Wait, what?"

"Oh please, like I don't know that she's the resident Mean Girl. But she's also quite lonely and sad and I don't want to hurt her too much so I just gave her a warning. She's not half as oblivious as you think she is, you know. And _I'm_ not that oblivious either, you didn't need to come rescue me Fishy, I can take care of myself."

He'd have to disagree with that, if she hadn't noticed how he was throwing himself on her all day, she had to be pretty damn oblivious.


End file.
